I love to discuss ideas, share wisdom, and connect people from across the border to exchange ideas, expert insights, and professional wisdom on various topics. Today, I’m thrilled to share the inspiring journey of a mobile journalist, content creator, and expert on Mojo from Italy.
I had the privilege of interviewing him for my YouTube channel. I’m happy to know and learn more about Francesco Facchini journey and passion. And also what derived and motivated him to become a journalist.
Mr.Francesco Facchini said; I’m so pleased to share my journey with you. My journey is about an old guy who dreamed of his life when he was 10 years old. He wondered if he could be a sports journalist, and he realized his dream by obtaining a university degree, just like everyone.
I began my career at a peculiar time in the media industry’s evolution when the internet entered our lives. In the early 90s, I was interested in different types of media, so I decided to try different types of media. During my career, I have tried to understand the differences in the styles and typology of workflow models in different types of media. I work for a small radio, a big radio, a small TV, a big TV, a small newspaper, a great newspaper, and a big newspaper.
I worked around Italy and my most important experiences were as the sports editor of the Free Press.
Well known all over the world, it is called Metro. I worked for Corer de la era. I was a commentator for football matches on Sky Italia and also had experience with Eurosport International during the 1998 World Cup in France.
I made an effort to develop and become an entrepreneur. I established an agency that possesses a unique skill. It was the first agency called Alannews that was used in Italy for new productions of mobile phones with video. It was my first ER experience, and this journey continued for four and a half years before I had to quit. It could happen, 2016 was a particular year in my life because I lost my job and had to quit my enterprise.
I experienced separation from my wife. My mother passed away; she was the last of my parents. I had a 4 year old baby boy at that moment (now 11). It was a natural event, but it was very hard to bear and so I was around 45, and all around me there was only destruction. You are aware of this kind of crossroad.
I had the possibility of continuing to be a journalist as I used to be for 25 years or changing everything to look forward to the future.
To look for changes in the models and instruments that I used, the platform on which I write or publish videos. I started to understand social media and social networks. I began to deepen my understanding of the discipline and culture of mobile journalism. I used to start studying books that were not written in Italian, and I was thinking about two or three books about this topic at that time. I started following conferences like the Mobile Journalism World Conference.
I began to explore and become acquainted with all the innovators who began to break away from conventional models by Producing videos and multimedia content in a unique way using mobile devices Using my iPhones, smartphones, tablets, iPads, and similar devices and this community that was a well-known community, a community that we are part of, me and you.
It was a community that changed my life because I had the chance to get back into business with a lot of less expense. I already have my smartphone and I only need to buy two or three things. I would like to start producing with a good microphone and then use it to rebuild my professionalism.
I started to understand that journalism is possible not only for traditional media, such as newspapers, TVs, and classical ways, but also for other platforms such as social networks. You can be a journalist, write or produce video, or publish video on social media for different types of clients.
Because enterprises need a different type of communication, not only marketing or commercial communication, but they also need professionals who are capable of providing information. I came to understand that training people was something that was close to my heart; because I think it’s been a couple of days since I made a video about the fact that a good journalist could be a good trainer, For example, the skills that you need to be a good trainer or a good teacher.
You’ll discover the same skills that are necessary for being a good journalist, because the journalist conducted research, collected documents, and created support and messages to inform the people in front of them. Recognize that a journalist has the capacity to deliver content, publish it, and reach all audiences effectively. I also became a trainer, teaching small courses for a few colleagues, then expanding my courses to bigger and bigger courses.
I began delivering and writing on my blog, ‘francescofacchini.it’. The culture of mobile journalism has had a positive impact on me because universities have started asking me to teach mobile journalism and mobile content creation to our students. Slowly but consistently, my career progressed because I was putting time into the future of my professionalism. I am not continuing to be a journalist, as you know the models that I had for 25 years. I had a desire to work, but things took a turn when I gained more money and grew up.
By the next year, I gained even more money. The business opened and I became something of a point of reference for mobile journalism. I began to apply my professional skills to innovation and the evolution of journalism.
This is to say that I started learning HTML. I started building websites on the internet. I started to become an expert in producing content for social platforms. I started to see many different shapes in one place. I wrote a book about the professional use of smartphones. In 2022, something special happened and the highest authorities of the world of journalism in Italy asked me.
To launch and create two video courses that were added to the mandatory training platform for journalists in Italy, those two courses, one about self-entrepreneurship because I am a self- entrepreneur and the second about mobile journalism, were seen and attended by 27,000 colleagues.
This is to say half of the journalistic population in Italy. I became a sort of celebrity in my market; because I had the great honor of having the great chance to multiply the possibility of delivering and sharing the culture of mobile journalism to thousands of colleagues. It’s a huge number.
More or less 45 to 50% of active journalists in Italy have seen my face deploying these courses. It was a huge success that caused me a lot of things, and then one other thing happened. I completely changed my workflow because artificial intelligence was introduced into smartphones.
Also, it is incorporated into the applications, so it is a constant evolution. But if you have to rebuild your journalistic career, I have only one piece of advice.
Look at the Horizon, look far, and don’t be condemned to continue the models you had in your journalistic days. Change the models, change the instruments. Accept the change and embrace the possibility of becoming a journalist. If you are told to write an article on a wall, do it.
Consider that the journalistic need for clear information to understand reality is exploding, particularly in this day and age. It is now more difficult to comprehend the truth than it was previously.
In a good way, one of the essential skills and objectives of being a journalist cannot be utilized by anyone.
This is to say, be a social mediator who understands what is going on and explains it objectively to the public. That we have where the public is on every platform and on every medium that we have in our hands.